KALAMAZOO -- Calls to Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes usually start to taper off after the first of the month, but the food-pantry network's director doesn't expect a slowdown in April.

Because of a change at the state level, many Michigan food-stamp recipients, who normally receive their allotments the first day of each month, will receive them on various dates after April 1. Those people, who were notified of the change within the past two weeks, are apt to turn to the Kalamazoo County nonprofit agency for emergency food aid to cover the gap, said Executive Director Anne Wend Lipsey.

Loaves & Fishes set up food for 581 people on Tuesday, the last day in March. On Wednesday, it served 456 -- the pantry's full capacity for that day.

"We weren't aware of this happening any faster than you," Lipsey told a reporter at the Kalamazoo Gazette, which learned of the change through a local food-stamp recipient last week. "We'll make every effort to expand that capacity as we can. ... It's a really serious situation for folks."

The food-pantry agency usually requires clients to wait a minimum of 30 days before coming back, but Lipsey said the rule has been waived for food-stamp recipients referred by their case workers in order "to make sure people get what they need."

The food-stamp changeover comes during a period when Loaves & Fishes has been seeing steady increases in the number of people seeking emergency food assistance, Lipsey said.

It served 5,991 people in March, a jump of 61 percent from the 3,725 people it served two years ago in March 2007.

"We're seeing this incredibly steep rise in the need for people to get food," Lipsey said. "The other thing that happens is the crisis starts earlier in the month, even when food stamps are available. Money doesn't stretch as far."

Colleen Steinman, a spokeswoman with the Michigan Department of Human Services, said an emergency fund exists for food-stamp recipients, but it is for "very, very extenuating circumstances." It is not available to those who get a new date for allotments.

"Talking to people in the call center, they say tempers are short," Lipsey said of people who have been contacting the food bank. "People are anxious. You don't want something as basic as food to become a major dilemma."